About this project

$1,450

pledged of $800 goal

24

backers

Stretch goal of $1300 to continue to add to the mural. Please share.

Huge thanks to everyone who has helped the mural become 100% funded. I am now fully funded to complete the mural as it currently exists (which everyone keeps telling me is awesome). Right now if the weather remains on my side I will likely be completing it by the end of March.

By exceeding the goal I would be able to continue to work on it for another month and have it become something truly magical. It has been entirely my own choice but over the past three weeks I have spent every penny I've hustled buying paint and more paint. All at the expense of my diet, having gas in my car, fixing my flat tire, or paying my bills. I'm not complaining and have loved every minute I am there. But at this stage I've spent all of my own limited income that I can possibly spare and would love some assistance with keeping the project growing.

My friends have been great at supporting this. If you are here because you are from the neighborhood that gets to enjoy the mural every day please consider donating a few bucks.

Over the next 10 I will keep adding stretch rewards as an added incentive.

Peace, Klutcho

New rewards added!

Terrorist Mask painting.

Painting on uncut Godzilla poster.

Tear Blocks.

Stretch Reward for $300

$300 Stretch Reward detail

This is a love story.

It is the story of a man who searched his entire life to find somewhere he felt comfortable and where things made even a tiny bit of sense in this wild weird world. Only when he finally gave up on being to able to find it, decided to just drop out and make art everyday (because it was the one remaining thing that he loved doing), did he realize that he had always been in the right place. He just needed follow what he always knew in his heart and ignore his doubting intellect.

I am that man and this is a true story. Twelve years ago I started making art every day not to become an artist but because I was so lost and disillusioned. I never expected it to add up to anything other than if I was going to crash it was going to be doing what I loved. Miraculously, today I am still here making art everyday, and more than ever it is for love with a conscious avoidance of all the things like career, accolades, acceptance, etc. that could damage this love.

Forever on the lookout for a new obsession last month I contacted my friend Doug Shapiro at Hoyt Street Properties inquiring if he had any construction fences that I could paint. He responded that he had a massive one in the Pearl that was a prime location for something awesome. After discussing my vision for the wall they offered me a 130'+ plywood wall on NW Northrup where I can go crazy from now until early summer when they begin a new project there. My original plan was to do a Kickstarter fundraiser and then begin work in late March once I had the funding. But being the mural obsessed nutjob that I am less than a week after Doug gave the approval I spent every penny I had, borrowed another $300, and started work on February 21st. So now I am launching this fundraiser to recoup what I have already borrowed so I don't get my legs broken and to buy the remainder of the paint needed to complete the mural.

This mural is purely a labor of love and my gift to anyone who will enjoy it as much as I will creating it. My only motive is the challenge, joy, and experience of painting such a large canvas and to add a little neo-psychedelia to the Pearl District. I am donating my time to do so and the funding that I am seeking is to buy the ton of paint needed for such a huge wall plus related supplies like paint rollers, brushes, etc. Since Kickstarter is an all or nothing game the $800 that I am requesting is the minimum needed to complete the mural as intended.

However it is my hope that we can substantially exceed this minimum goal so that I can keep adding to the mural for the duration of its existence. Originally this mural was only going to be up for 3 months but Doug and the neighborhood already love it so much that it will be moved (still at the same location) and reassembled in June. From there it will live on for almost two more years. Exceeding the funding goal will help me to add to and redo the mural during this period and if I am lucky some gas, coffee, and lunches for my hardworking and unpaid assistants Doug Lloyd and Gabe Gregg. The image of the mural shown below is just the beginning and only the starting point for what I have planned. The rest of the mural will unfold and evolve organically as it progresses.

Thanks for taking the time to check this out and hopefully some part of it will inspire you to contribute. Below is a picture of the mural in its current state, a few photos of my other murals, and samples of some of the rewards.

Risks and challenges

Rain is my only obstacle and that is easily remedied by using a tarp. The wall has about 4' clearance from a chain link fence which will work perfectly for creating a painting tent to keep me dry. Once the background is laid down for the most part I will be working on small sections at a time.
Also, April onward is forecast to drier and warmer than usual.